Beware of such carefully crafted phishing emails in the name of GoDaddy

This is the email I received today. At first, it really looks like an email we receive from Godaddy for verification of domain ownership.

If I was not paying attention (digitally toxic), I was going to click on that link. Normally the verification email IDs have some weird email IDs (example, transfer-verify etc.) I would have easily overlooked this one: godaddy.com-verify.name

Usually it is very easy to spot phishing email because of textual errors in the content, domain mismatches etc, but the scammer has done a good job on this one. He has registered the domain godaddy.com-verify in the .name extension. He added a .com left of the dot.

A whois search reveals this domain name is registered couple of days ago at Reseller Club and the registrant belongs to China.

The verification link in the text uses another domain name godaddy-verification.com The whois is below, belongs to a Chinese national, also at Reseller Club, registered in March of this year. It may not necessary be a Chinese national; it could be someone from another country using fake info.

Clicking on the link will lead you to a Godaddy login clone page.

If you do not have 2fa enabled, your assets are at potential risk. Some people use same password everywhere, so this can compromise your account that does not have 2fa.

I was not using gmail. I think Gmail has better security features which takes this kind of emails to spam already.

Always double check from which domains the emails are coming from. Check it’s whois. Check the domains in verification links, check their whois. Enable 2fa. Use good email service. Be safe!

Jijo Pappachan

Jijo Pappachan is a Chinese Domain names investor, trader, broker, author, and blogger. He started domaining in 2015 and made it big during the surge that time. He has sold more than 1000 domains. He is part of DNOAi, Domain Name Owners Association of India.[Disclaimer: My analysis could be wrong. Do your own due diligence while making investment decisions. If you want me to write about something specific, email me.]

This author does not have any more posts.

Share this:

Related

Comments 1

It’s sad seeing so many different scams using other companies brands. The most recent one I got using Godaddy’s name was for a discount coupon on their logo service. People really need to be careful out there and avoid clicking any links in emails or sms/text.